Snow and ice through one of my piles

[chutes]

So, here's the deal. I had a bit more than 4 cord for the season. 2 cord stored in wood shed, 2 cord piled and covered on top. I was using the outside pile until first snowfall, then began to use from the shed. Now the shed nearly empty (so, a bit less than 2 cord left) and I went out to start rotating outside pile into the shed. Turns out I did not cover it too well. Snow got onto top of pile, melted down, snow again, etc., over past month or so. So, there is barely a split that does not have some snow or bits of crystal ice on it.

I'm experimenting with this wood to see how it burns. Just now I threw a split on that had a bit of ice on outside (i let ice melt away inside first). I threw this split on top of 2 splits from the shed. This split did not ignite as fast as the others, and soon after it got going you could see some surface moisture bubbling out. Again - this is just from surface. I cannot stress enough that my wood is well-seasoned. No smoke from my chimney ever (except briefly on cold starts) and I barely ever have to clean my glass. This split was completely charred within 1 minute, the bubbling stopped very quickly too, but you can still see some "wet" spots on the end, but only near the surface side that got wet. Even now, there is no smoke coming from the chimney.

Is this contributing to creosote build up, or does it sound like this surface moisture is probably burning off too quickly for me to worry about it? Temps aren't going much above freezing anytime soon, so if I have to wait until all that wood is dry, I either have to move wood piles into my home or turn the thermostat up and burn oil since most of that 2 cord all suffers from some of that surface moisture. I assume that others frequently get snow/ice in their piles, right?

Thanks---

 

[burntime]

Move it to the wood shed, bring a day worth in and it should be fine.

 

[billb3]

move into the shed like you planned, the dry air/wind will wick some of the moisture away.
Big clumps try to knock off without being anal about it.
snow and ice will disappear without melting, it can take a while, though. The more dry wind going by, the better.

If you can get a couple days worth into a bit warmer garage or a concrete cellar floor where a bit of water dripping off won't be an issue that will help, too.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

When I have snow or ice on a split I hit it against the a t post to knock most of it off. It works for me. A little water on the ends will not hurt. The inside is dry still.

Matt

 

[chutes]

Thanks everyone for the responses. I'm doing pretty much what all of you have suggested.

I have noticed that bringing in a few loads in front of the fire dries those splits very quickly, given that it is mostly surface moisture that hasn't penetrated too much. Even from my earlier test, I've now gone to throwing 2 of the "wet" splits, and after just a few hours in the fire room, I'm not even seeing the surface bubbling, and they seem to be taking off just fine.

I'll continue to rotate into the shed, then into the house near fire (about a day's worth) and hopefully make it through the season (though I'm thinking that I'm going to come up short)....

Thanks again

 

[gyrfalcon]

I was where you are most of last winter. It's not a problem. Stuff dried just fine from snow/ice in my enclosed woodshed in a couple weeks, a couple days inside the house, a couple hours laid out around the edge of the hearth. As you've discovered, it doesn't penetrate very far into the wood. If there's bark still on it, that will soak up the water, though, so best if you can get that off.

Also, throwing ice cold wood into the fire, even if it's otherwise dry,brings the temp down and doesn't make a lot of sense to me, so I make sure mine has warmed up to room temperature before I use it. (My stove is very small, so one ice cold split = 1/4 of a load.)

My experience is you're better off not covering the wood outside unless you're anticipating heavy snowfall. A lot of snow is going to get under a tarp anyway, and you're always better off the more air gets to the wood. It will continue to season and dry during winter.

 

[Valhalla]

When it is not snowing or raining, leave it uncovered in the sun and wind with the temps above freezing. It will recover. Then recover with tarps just the upper stack.

Yes, I know you ask, when was it NOT snowing this winter. It seems like possibly last October...

 

[Slow1]

Oh boy - I had a similar experience today. I have a small pile staged on my deck that holds about a weeks worth of wood so I don't have to go down the steps each day to get more. Well... things warmed up just enough to melt snow on the roof the other day and water dripped down and... well, the tarp I used isn't totally waterproof it seems, AND the water that dripped between the house and the pile where the tarp wasn't also managed to 'jump' into the wood... a good bit of the wood was seriously stuck together in a nice glaze of ice, 1/2" thick in spots! So much for my brilliant plan for storage... guess I need a roof on that pile.

I pulled what I could to put on a shelf in the house to melt and dry off... hoping that it will not soak in as it melts and that I can burn it in a day or two. Ug. I used to actually love snow, now I'm not so sure! My main pile has disappeared under a pile of snow (hope the plastic holds out there) so just the pile under the deck is currently available... going to go dig up the snowbound one this weekend and pray none of the snow melted into it.

I guess I need a shed (or two) also eh?

 

[Backwoods Savage]

When you put some wood in the stove that is wet on the exterior, just leave that draft wide open a few minutes longer than you usually do and it should be fine. If you have a cat stove, then leave it an extra 5-10 minutes before engaging the cat, just to be sure.